Improvement in machines for welding and forming couplings



2Sheets--Sheet1.. G. H. FOX. Machines for Welding and Formingouplings.`N0.l5l,2l5.

Patented May 26,1874.

2 Sheets--Sheet 2. G. H. Fox.Y

`Machines for Welding andr Forming Couplings. No.15l',2l5. PatentedMay26,1874.

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GEORGE II. FOX, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

II'VIPRGVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR WELDING AND FORIVIING COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. Nil, dated May 26,1874; application filed May 6,1573.

To all whom it may concer-n:

Be it known that I, GEORG-E II. FOX, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Machines forVelding Rings for Couplings, Ste., and I do hereby declare that thefollowing, taken in connection with the drawings which accompany andform part of this specification, isa description of my inventionsufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice it.

The invention relates to a new method of welding the ends of metalblanks to form tubes for coupling and other purposes. Such tubes areusually formed by scarfing the ends of the blank and lap-welding them 5but as the tubes have subsequently to be shaped upon a mandrel, theprocess is slow and the manufacture expensive.

In my method, I eut the metal to the form of a parallelogram withinclined ends, and when the strip is bent these ends butt. The blankthus bent I place upon a pin of the diameter of the tube to be formed,said pin evtending up from a siiita-ble bed, and having 'a square orangular shank entering a corresponding socket in the bed or socketpiece, said socket-piece being intermittently rotated and the pin andblank rotating with it. Over the pin is a vertically-reciprocatingtubular driver, and as saiddriver descends it strikes the blank and,pressing it down, welds the two edges or the overhanging inclined edgeto the edge beneath it, the blank being at a welding heat. On the tableat opposite sides of the pin are two sliding dies, having die-surfaces`corresponding iii conjunction to the outer diameter of the tube to beformed. After the driver or header descends, andas it rises, the diesmove forward and press the blank against theformer-pin, and the headerthen descends and the dies again move forward, and so on, until the tubeat this one operation is welded and shaped, the pin and tube havingbetween the consecutive actions of the dies upon it, a rotativemovement, by which means its whole surface is acted upon. then the tubeis thus finished, the pin is removed, and by striking the tube a fewsharp blows with a hammer, or by other suitable means, it is loosenedand dislodged from the pin.

The invention consists in this method of forming the tube, and in themechanism employed in practicing the saine.

The drawing represents a machine for forming such tubes.

Figure l shows the machine in side and sectional elevation. Fig. 2 is afront and sectional elevation 5 and Fig. 2*, an enlarged view of theformer-pin and its adjacent parts. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan on theline @c a". Fi 4 shows the blank as cut from the plate. Fig.

5 shows it as bent and ready for welding. Fig. v

6 shows the welded blank.

a denotes a table placed on suitable supports. Set into this table is abed, I), and beneath this bed is a rotating soeket-piece, c, necked intoa bearing, d, and having a square or other suitably-shaped socket forreceiving and confining the shank e of the cylindrical former-pin f.rlhe shoulder g of this pin rests on the bed b, and the pin receives theblank h, or the blank encompasses the pin, and rests upon the bed. Thesocket f piece bears a ratchet, t', with which engages a pawl, It, saidpawl being jointed to a slide, l, actuated as will be presentlydescribed; Above the pin f is a tubular header, my, whose shank is fixedto a vertical slide-rod, n, connected to one end of a lever, o, theother end of said lever being connected by a suitable link with a crank,19,011 the drivingshaft q. The blank from which the tube is to be formedis cnt from a plate to the shape seen in Fig. 4, with two inclined andparallel ends, r and s, and this blank being bent, as seen in Fig. 5, isplaced on the pin j'. As the header then descends it passes over thehead of the former, and its bottom and annular face striking the top ofthe blank, the blank being at a welding heat, compresses the blank inthe direction of its length, and driving the edges r ands together,welds them. The header then rises, and two dies, t a, on opposite sidesof the pin, are driven forward against the blank. rIhese dies have innercylindric faces shaped to the outer circumference to be possessed by thetube, the thickness of the dies being equal to or a little in excess ofthe length of the tube. The dies are fixed in the inner ends of twoslides, fv, which are jointed to levers w, said levers, by toggle-linksx and connections y, being jointed to one end of a lever, z, Whoseopposite end is connected to the crank p by a link, a2. VTheratchet-slide l is jointed to one of the levers w, and is moved forwardand back by said lever. l/Vhen the header m is descending the dies t adraw back, and after the header has acted and risen from the tube thedies are driven forward, and acting upon the sides of the tube correctits shape. Before the header again acts, or before the dies next act,the lever w actuates the pavvl, and turns the pin fand blank h slightly,and thus the dies and header have a Iuniformity of action over the wholesurface of the blank, so that by the aetion of the machine the tube isboth Welded and shaped Without any subsequent action. The tube havingbeen thus formed and shaped, the pin j', With the tube upon it, isremoved and replaced by another pin and another blank, the tube beingstarted from the removed pin, as already explained.

For forming tubes varying in size, a series or" pins and headers areused, as will be readily understood.

Lhe details and arrangement of the mech.- anisni may, ofcourse, bevaried.

I claini-.

1. llhe described method of formingcoupling-tubes, fue., consisting infirst cutting the blank to the shape described 'and shown in Fig. 4, andthen when the same is at a Welding-heat, and bent as shown in Fig. 5,autoinatically Welding the inclined edges r sby end pressure upon thetube. A

2. In combination With thesockct-header m, operating to giveendwisepressure upon the tube to Weld its heated inclined sides r s,

the dies t a, operating in alternation with the header m te shape thetube at its circumfer- GEO. H. FOX. lll'itnesses:

FRANCIS Gouw,

. W. FnefrinNGu/in,

